US Air Force member who set himself on fire in protest of Gaza ‘genocide’ dies in hospital

WASHINGTON

A member of the US Air Force who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington in protest of the conflict on Gaza has died in a local hospital, police confirmed on Monday.

Aaron Bushnell, 25, who was an active-duty member of the US Air Force, set himself on fire Sunday to protest the “genocide” in Gaza.

He was dispatched to an area hospital due to “critical life-threatening injuries,” said the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.

“I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,” Bushnell said before setting himself on fire.

A video of the incident showed the soldier shouting “Free Palestine” as he was burning.

Last December, a person set themselves on fire outside the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia in protest of Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, killing nearly 30,000 people amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

• Aaron Bushnell